Mitigation of Dust Hazard in Comprehensive Health Centers

Dust, as a natural hazard, has widespread health, economic, and social impacts on society. The problems caused by this phenomenon arise from the lack of a single model and differences in the performance of health care systems. This policy brief presents solutions and strategies for mitigation of comprehensive health centers to dust hazard to improve responses and effective management of this hazard. The present policy brief is the result of a sequential mixed exploratory study (qualitative-quantitative) that was conducted in six phases with the aim of producing a comprehensive health center mitigation program for dust hazards. First, a systematic review was conducted to identify strategies to reduce health harm caused by dust. Then, interview questions were designed, and face-to-face and telephone interviews were conducted with 23 managers and health professionals. Using a guided approach to qualitative content analysis, primary codes, main codes, subcategories, main categories, and themes were extracted. In the third phase, using the results of the systematic review and the codes from the interviews, the dimensions and components of the program were identified. In the fourth and fifth phases of the study, the validation of the dimensions and components of the program was measured in the form of qualitative face validity and the Delphi technique, and finally, the FEMA proposed model was used to design a comprehensive health center mitigation program against dust hazard.